World Academy for Exceptional Youths
by hailsammy
Summary: While Feliciano was a natural with his powers, Lovino found it extremely difficult. He can only hope that attending the school for "special" individuals will help him gain control. Superpowers AU. Spamano, USUK, Gerita, Prucan, and others
1. Chapter 1

Lovino stared blankly out his window, watching his brother and grandfather run around the sprinkler. This was their last of summer vacation and last day of 'normal', as their grandfather liked to call it. Yeah, right. As far as Lovino was concerned, the last day of normal was forever ago. Hell, the days of normal may never have existed. Wasn't that the reason why neither of their parents were present? Because 'normal' skipped a generation and their mother couldn't handle not normal as well as she thought she could have? That was what Grandpa always said anyway...

He watched with a bored expression as his twin brother, Feliciano, created shapes with the water from the sprinkler and get praised each time by their oddly young grandfather. Suddenly, his grandpa's glance shifted up to his window, and Lovino tried his best to dive out of his view.

"Lovino!" He glared up at his grandfather, or image of his grandfather, now standing before him in his room. "Why don't you join us?" Lovino scoffed.

"Why? So I can set the lawn on fire again? No thanks."

"Well if that happens, Feli can just put it out! Come on, pleaaase!"

"I said no, now leave me alone old man!" Lovino shouted. His grandfather shrugged, smile never leaving his face. He was used to his grandson's constant anger at this point and knew to not take it personally.

"Suit yourself!" With that he disappeared.

Lovino sighed heavily. He and his brother had been born, how his grandpa liked to say, _special. _He called it fucking weird. Feliciano could control water, which he did with ease and grace, doing so many things with his powers from boiling water to make pasta to creating the most gorgeous ice sculptures Lovino had ever seen. Lovino had been less fortunate. He was born with the ability to control fire. He was no where near as skilled as Feliciano, and set things on fire nearly constantly, unable to control his so-called gift with that same ease his brother had.

His grandfather had probably the coolest power possible. He could fuck with reality, creating whole worlds or false images to his hearts desire. When Lovino and Feliciano were kids, instead of reading them stories, their grandfather would let the live the stories, or watch them unfold before their very eyes. It was probably because of his kick ass power that their grandpa was the head of World Academy for Exceptional Youths. To most of the world, it was an extremely selective private school. But Lovino knew better. It was a school created to teach kids like himself how to control and use their weird ass powers for good. Sure, there was an occasional psycho that went through the school and became a villain, but there always plenty of heroes graduating from the school, ready to stop the threats.

Feliciano and Lovino started at the school tomorrow. To say Lovino was scared was an understatement. He had not been in a school with other kids since kindergarten, when he had to be removed because he set the wood blocks on fire at playtime, then nearly gave a kid second-degree burns from high-fiving him. The teach thought he had been sneaking in a lighter or matches, although she couldn't explain why she never found him with any. In either case, Lovino's grandfather had thought it best to teach the twins himself, but now he wanted to put them back into the traditional schooling system. Sure, the school was meant to teach this stuff, but Lovino's powers had gotten stronger, and he had gotten no better at controlling them. All he could really do was hope that the flooring and walls at the school weren't _too_ flammable.

XxXxX

"Alfred are you packed?!" Matthew shouted from his room. It was the night before they left for the World Academy for Exceptional Youths, and he couldn't be more excited. He had been so happy when the men from the school had come to see him and Alfred about attending. They had told them that they had these _gifts_. Matthew practically started laughing when they informed him that all this time when he thought the kids at school had intentionally ignored him and pretended he was invisible, he had actually _been_ invisible. He and his brother were special. It was an odd thing for him to think. Him, Matthew Williams, special. It brought a smile to his lips just thinking it. He looked down at the already packed bag on his bed. He had been through it about 20 times already, he was sure he had everything.

"Alfred?!" Suddenly, his brother stood in front of him.

"Yes, Mattie?" Of course, Alfred had probably been more excited than Matthew when he found out that he had actually been holding back his speed and strength in sports and had a lot more to offer. Ever since the visit from the men from the Academy, Alfred had been testing his true abilities, now realizing that he was like Superman and the Flash combined, able to pick up cars and run places in a fraction of a second. This, of course, meant that he had taken to speeding around the house and scaring the shit out of Matthew and their parents whenever possible. He had a huge grin on his face as Matthew spun around, more surprised than he should have been at this point.

"Oh! Uh... Sorry I was just wondering if you were-" Matthew stopped, looking at what Alfred was wearing. He was silent a moment then burst out laughing. "What... are... you... wearing?" He gasped out between laughs. Alfred looked down at his apparel. He wore his Captain America pajama pants, with white briefs pulled up over them, a Batman t-shirt, and he had tied a red sheet around his shoulders as a cape.

"Oh this?" He asked casually, "Just picking out what I'm wearing on our first day." Matthew's laughing stopped abruptly.

"Oh no. You are not wearing _that_ our first day! I will not admit to being your brother!" Alfred grinned.

"Just kidding, you should have seen your face though!" He turned and practically skipped out of the room. "I'm all packed by the way! See you in the morning!"

Matthew smiled. He had never really looked forward to school before. But now, there were so many unknowns, so many possibilities, so much potential, that he could hardly wait.

XxXxX

"So. Year Two starts tomorrow." Gilbert grinned up at his two best friends who sat on either side of him on the couch, while he sat on the floor.

"Oui, it is very exciting. Maybe there will be some cute first years coming in. Oh hon hon hon." Francis agreed, grinning down and Gilbert.

"Yeah! None of them will be able to resist my awesome! Hey, Toni, didn't Romulus say something about introducing you to his grandson?" Gilbert winked up at Antonio, who sat stroking a turtle on his chest.

"Yeah, he said that we are both really happy all the time, so we might hit it off." Antonio replied, then began murmuring to his turtle with words the other two couldn't understand.

"Dude, cut that out, it's creepy." Antonio had the gift of telepathy, that is reading thoughts and putting thoughts into other people's heads. He had gotten so skilled that he was able to read and project thoughts in different languages, which soon carried over into animals. He would often murmur to animals, much to the discomfort of his two friends.

"Toni it is a bit weird." Francis agreed.

"Sorry," Antonio replied with a sheepish grin, "he's just so cute! And so interesting!" He held the turtle up above his head.

"Uh-huh. And where did he come from?" Gilbert exchanged an amused glance with Francis. Antonio was sort of an animal magnet. He was like Snow White, constantly followed by random wild animals. They joked that he could probably get all of the animals to do his laundry for him if he asked.

"Francis's pond. There were others, but I thought your mom might not like me bringing them all inside."

"Good choice, Antonio." Francis's mom appeared in the doorway to their living room. "I was going to order pizza, what kind do you boys want?"

"Couldn't we get something other than pizza?" Francis asked innocently.

"Nope, pizza or nothing" Francis turned his head up to look his mother directly in the eye.

"We can get something else."

"Yes, you can get something else." She said almost robotically. Suddenly, she shook her head. "Francis Bonnefoy! Did you just try to mind control your own mother? No pizza for you!" She turned to Gilbert and Antonio. "You two can still have whatever you'd like." She winked at the boys before leaving the room.

"Thanks, Mrs. Bonnefoy!" Gilbert and Antonio said in sing-song voices.

"So close!" Francis said, holding his fingers a centimeter apart.

"It's gonna be a good year, boys." Gilbert said, folding his arms behind his head and leaning back. "I can tell."

XxXxX

Arthur turned on his music, pulled on his headphones, and leaned back uneasily in his chair. He had never liked flying, and the uneasiness that this was all just a dream, or worse, a prank, didn't help his nerves. He let the beat of the drums and sound of electric guitar lull him into a sense of odd calmness as he felt the plane fly into the air. Why did this supposed Academy for Exceptional Youths have to be in America of all places. They said kids from all sorts of nationalities attended, and sure America was the "melting pot" of nations, but, in his opinion, America sucked. Deeply divided on every political issue to be had, obnoxiously loud citizens who only ate fast food (that was his impression anyway) and no metric system. Oh and there was that whole temperature system they had. What was it? "Fairheight?" He had no clue. All he knew was that he shouldn't panic if the forecast said it would be well above 50 degrees out. He shook his head. He still didn't understand why he had to go to this stupid American school in the first place.

The men had come to tell him near the start of summer. Somehow they had learned about his dabbling in witchcraft. He hadn't actually expected anything to happen when he tried it. He had just googled it one day to see if he could make a pen float into the air. He had done it, and used the same site he had found to experiment with other spells. But it didn't make sense, that with what the men said. They said that some people were born with abilities that others didn't have. Powers, they had said. He didn't have powers. Anyone could probably do witchcraft as he had, if they tried it. He slumped down in his seat.

They told him he was something special, even more special than the special people that went to their blasted school. He was especially special. Most people had a single power. Mind control. Telekinesis. Something. He had powers, as in multiple. He was a magistrate. A wizard. A witch. Whatever he cared to call it. He scoffed. A kid who had found a spellbook. That was what he called it.

Arthur wasn't really sure why he was so mad about having to go to this school. It should be exciting, getting to actually learn magic. It's not like he was leaving any friend behind. No one at his school, his old school now, liked him. He was bullied and beat up too many times to count. Now he was going to a new school where... where he would be beat up by kids with super powers. That was it. That was the cause of the heavy weight on his chest. He let his eyes close and tried to doze off. He would have to enjoy these last few moments of peace before he entered the storm he was sure was coming.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Lovino stared at his feet with each step, watching for the slightest hint of a spark to alert his brother to put it out. His grandfather usually walked places with him and helped him to keep control of the flames, but, since it was orientation day, he had to get to the school early and had entrusted Feliciano to make sure his brother didn't set anything ablaze. Feli skipped alongside Lovino as they approached the school. Lovino sighed with relief as his feet his the marble steps outside the school.

"_Once you get to the steps, you'll be okay, you won't be able to set the school on fire with your feet. Just be careful about your hands and you should be fine!" _ His grandfather had told him before he left that morning.

"Will you be okay now, fratello?" Feliciano asked, eager to meet new people, as always.

"I'll be fine, just go away and make friends and whatever." Lovino replied, waving his brother off. Feliciano skipped off, and Lovino lowered down and allowed himself to relax against the railing of the the stairs, waiting for the bell to ring.

"Romulus said his grandson has a really distinct curl on top of his head and looks a lot like him." Antonio said, standing on his tip toes and scanning the crowd of first years that stood outside of the school. He, Gilbert, and Francis had been chosen by Romulus to be tour guides for orientation day, despite their record of causing trouble.

"My, my, you really sound like you want to meet him." Francis cooed with a grin. Antonio blushed.

"I just thought... Since he is the president's grandson... Oh! I think I see him! He's sitting on the stairs!" Gilbert craned his neck trying to see.

"That kid? He doesn't look that happy..."

"He has the curl and looks like Romulus though... I'm gonna talk to him!" Antonio walked toward the boy confidently, wearing his most charming grin. Francis and Gilbert followed him, but stopped just the right distance away to watch the interaction.

Antonio approached the boy, noticing he had his eyes closed, and stood next to him, patiently waiting for him to notice him. He thought maybe he was asleep.

"You're standing in the light." Antonio was a bit taken aback by the harsh tone. Romulus said that his grandson was a total sweetie. He was blocking the light though, so he graciously stepped to the side. One of the boys eyes opened and looked at Antonio. "Do you need something?"

"I... uhm... are... are you Romulus Vargas's grandson?" The other eye opened and then the boy rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, I am, but if you want to be friends with me just so you can be his favorite, then you are talking to the wrong Vargas, asshole."

"I- no, I'm a second year, Romulus told me that you and I might hit it off..." The boy looked at him doubtfully. "Did... he tell you about me? Antonio?" Antonio asked weakly. The boy regarded him another minute, before closing his eyes again.

"No."

"Ahaha. Well this is a bit awkward."

"For you maybe. Do you want to leave now? You're bugging me."

"Can I get your name first?" Silence. "Pleaase. I won't leave til you tell me!" Antonio sing-songed, stepping into the light's path again.

"Gah! Fine! Lovino."

"Awwww Lovi! What a cute name!" Lovino's face turned bright red.

"What?! It's not cute!"

"Ahaha, Lovi you look like a tomato when you blush!" Lovino's face got redder.

"I'm not- I do not! You're the tomato, bastard!"

"Okay Lovi, I'll leave you alone, but I'll see you later!" Antonio grinned as he returned to Gilbert and Francis.

"Wow dude. That looked... rough."

"Oui, good try though, mon ami."

"I think I'm in love."

"What?!"

XxXxX

Arthur looked through the window of the cab at his new school. It was... rather large. He had thought his school had been huge, that was why it was so easy for other kids to pick on him, because it was too hard for administration to keep track of all of the bullies so they kind of gave up. This school was bigger. Bigger and filled with other kids with powers. He slumped against the cool window. This was going to be hell.

The cab stopped and he went around the back to pull out his bags. He hoped the school only looked so big because most students were housed on campus. As he walked down the road toward the marble steps that led up to the main building, Arthur tried to figure out where he was actually supposed to be going. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to have a schedule yet, or if he was supposed to know where he was going. He figured he wasn't as other students looked just as nervous and lost as he did. Most people stood around in small groups, trying to make friends. As he walked past one particular group, A tall boy swung his arm out, gesturing about something, and hit Arthur square in the face. He wouldn't have expected it, but the blow sent him back a few feet. He rubbed his face, and glared to see the boy who had done it.

"Bloody hell, watch what you're doing!" He shouted, not really sure which of the boys in the group it had been. One of the boys, with sandy blonde hair and a stray curl knelt beside him.

"Sorry about that, Alfred doesn't watch what's he doing... ever." The boy smiled at him kindly. That was new. Arthur looked up at the boy who now stood over him, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. He looked like the boy who had knelt down, except with shorter hair and instead of a curl, he had a straighter bit of hair that stood up.

"Sorry man, I still haven't learned to control my muscle. But that's what I'm here for!"

Great. This guy sounded like the exact American stereotype Arthur hated. Loud, obnoxious, unaware that other people existed and had to deal with their crap. Despite his hateful thoughts, he managed a slightly unconvincing "It's no problem."

"Hey are you British?" The boy, Alfred, asked, sticking out his hand to help Arthur to his feet. Arthur took the hand and was pulled a bit too hard to his feet, causing him to run right into Alfred's chest. He felt his face go red as he stepped back hastily, dusting himself off as he did so.

"Yes, I'm from England. Why?"

"Just 'cause of you accent."

"Right. Well. I should be off."

"Oh! Do you know where we are supposed to be going?" Arthur paused remembering he had absolutely no clue.

"Uh.. no. Does anyone know?"

Alfred shrugged. "Don't think so."

"Looks like we might be finding out." The other boy, who Arthur assumed was Alfred's brother, pointed to the marble steps, where five students now stood in row, one of which, a boy with white hair and what looked like red eyes, was waving his arms and had begun to shout.

"Attention losers! Time to get this party started, the five us cool kids will be your orientation guides so pay attention and don't get lost, we will not look for you!" The boy burst out laughing at this, like it was super funny, and another boy, with dark hair and glasses spoke up.

"You were all invited into this school because you are what we call special or gifted, and I'm sure you would like to learn more about that but today is not the day for that. Today you learn where to go and when. We will show you to the dormitories where you will each be assigned rooms with other first year students and given your class schedule. Then we will show you around the school so you are not completely lost tomorrow. Understand? Good. Follow us."

The five students turned and walked into the school, the first years scrambling to grab their bags and follow. Arthur decided to stick with Alfred and his brother, hoping maybe he would get to be roommates with the quieter brother since he seemed nice and level-headed. He wondered what sort of "gift" he had.

The group walked through the main building, gawking at how expensive the place looked. They walked out of the doors on the opposite side of the building, and came to a split path, both directions leading to buildings of varying shapes and sizes. One of the five second years, a tall boy with sort of messy brown hair and a seemingly constant smile spoke up.

"That way," He said pointing to the left, "are the educational buildings. That way," pointing to the right, "are the dorms." The five turned to the right and walked toward the dormitories and talked amongst themselves as the first years followed behind. They stopped at the first two buildings they came to. Arthur looked down at the other buildings that seemed to get cooler and cooler as they went down.

"This is first year housing." The only girl with the second years with long brown hair spoke up. "You will each get at most one roommate, who will be assigned to you today. Those of you with last names letters A-M will be in this building and those with last names N-Z will be in that building. Stand in front of your respective buildings and we will call your name to get your room number and key."

Arthur saw Alfred and his brother share a look as his brother slowly headed toward the other building. Arthur looked at Alfred confused.

"Wait, are you two not brothers?"

"We are, but we have different last names. His is Williams and mine is Jones. This happens all the time." He shrugged. "Whatever."

Arthur waited patiently for his name to be called. He watched as Alfred got called and disappeared inside the building. If Jones was called then that meant he would be soon...

"Arthur Kirkland?" Arthur took a breathe then made his way to the front and took his key from the girl who had spoken about which building was which earlier. "Here you go Arthur. You're on the third floor, number five." She handed him his key. "Welcome, and good luck." He gave her his best attempt at a smile before heading into the coolness of the building. He hadn't noticed how hot it was outside until he hit the air conditioning of the building.

He was relieved to find that there was an elevator so he didn't have to drag all of his bags up to the third floor. As he made his way down the hallway on the third floor, he looked at each of the numbers of the doors pass by until he got to number five. He looked up at it, then, swallowing, unlocked and opened the door.

"You have to be kidding."

"HEY! Looks like we're roomies!" Alfred practically yelled, his hand in a bag of potato chips.

XxXxX

Matthew waited patiently outside the second building waiting for his name to be called. He was used to being called last, or nearly last, with his last name starting with W. He didn't begin to panic until they called someone whose last name started with Y. He panicked a whole lot more when there was only one kid left besides him. He watched as the five second years started talking with each other as the last other kid went inside. Weren't they wondering about him? Unless... Shit. He looked down at his hands. There were no hands. Just great.

He concentrated as hard as he could on getting himself to be visible again as he walked up to the nearest second year to him, the boy with white hair.

"Uh... Excuse me?" The boy nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Jesus kid! You really know how to sneak up on someone!" Matthew laughed nervously. He hated social situations.

"Yeah... Uhm... I didn't get a room?" The boy looked puzzled. He pulled out a cell phone.

"Hold on a sec..." He quickly dialed and put the phone to his ear, watching Matthew out of the corner of his eyes. "Heyy Papa Rome. Yeah, listen there's a kid here who apparently doesn't have a room. Can you check to see if we have an extra? Okay..." He put a hand over the mouthpiece and turned to Matthew. "He's checking kid. Just wait a minute." The boy turned away and kicked absentmindedly at the ground. His head tilted back up as whoever was on the other end of the line got back. "So? No? Not _one_? Well what- do _I_? Uh... yeah I don't think I have one this year..." He ran a hand through his hair. "I guess... Yeah I'll be nice." He hung up the phone and looked at Matthew for a moment, a slight smirk on his face. "Alright kid, you're staying with me."

Matthew stared at him in shock. "I... what?"

"Look, there are no first year rooms, and I wasn't going to have a roomie this year, so you get to stay with me until someone in your year gets kicked out or dies." Matthew's eyes grew wide, wondering if deaths were a normal occurrence at this school. The boy burst out laughing.

"You're so gullible!" He slapped Matthew on the back and gestured toward the building next to the one he was supposed to be staying in. "I'll show you where our room is, grab your stuff."

"O-okay... uhm..."

"Gilbert." He turned around as Matthew grabbed his bags and clapped his hands at him. "Come on shortie I haven't got all day." Matthew sighed. This was just his luck.

XxXxX

"Why did we have to get put together?" Lovino complained, flopping down on the bed he had claimed.

"Probably because Grandpapa doesn't want anyone getting freaked out if you accidentally set them on fire." Feli replied cheerfully as he hung pictures on his half of the room. Lovino glared at him.

"Whatever." He stood up and walked to the door. "Come on, we're supposed to go back out for the tour." Feliciano trotted out of the room happily behind Lovino. They were some of the first people to return outside, and suddenly Lovino heard a familiar voice over the others.

"Speak of the devil! Lovi!" He turned to see the tall Spanish boy from earlier, Antonio was it, waving at him from the group of second years. Lovino inwardly groaned as he slowly approached.

"Speak of the devil? Were you talking about me you stupid pervert?"

"Aw! Fratello, did you make friends already! I'm so happy for you!" Feliciano came skipping up behind Lovino. Four of the five second years began cracking up at the sight of Feliciano. Antonio looked back and forth between the two, understanding washing over his face.

"Ahah. Lovi, is this your... brother?"

"No, he's a random stranger. What the hell to do think dumbass? Of course he's my brother. This is Feliciano."

"That makes more sense. Ahaha, Anyway, you guys should have seen Lovi here, he looks like a tomato when he blushes!"

"I did not blush!" Lovino shouted frantically, feeling his face heating up again. "And anyway, y-you're a tomato you bastard! I told you that!"

"Lovi you're so cute when you're embarrassed!" Antonio cooed.

"I am not cute!" Lovino stomped his foot in frustration, forgetting they were no longer standing on marble, but a grass. He yelped as fire burst from where his foot went down and Feliciano quickly put it out. Lovino walked away from the group, now completely mad at himself and more embarrassed than ever. Feliciano followed after him quickly.

"Fratello! Stop! It was an accident! It's okay!" Lovino turned around to argue with his brother but lost all urges to fight as Feliciano wrapped his arms around him. He didn't return the hug, but just rested his head on Feli's shoulder a moment. He didn't hate his brother, even if he did yell at him a lot. He was thankful that although Feliciano was better with his powers than Lovino was, he would never rub it in or even admit it. He would simply say that Lovino just needed practice and would be there to comfort him whenever he failed.

Antonio watched the brothers from a distance. He hadn't known what sort of powers the Vargas brothers had, but now it was clear that Lovino had the power of fire while his brother had the power of water. He wondered if Lovino was afraid of his powers, based on how he just acted. He watched as Feliciano pulled Lovino into a hug. Based on how the Italian had acted earlier he expected him to shove his way out of the hug, but watched in awe as he just sort of let it happen. He wanted to get Lovino to do that. To be able to hug him and have him just... accept it. He smiled at the thought.

"Woah." Gilbert said after a moment.

"Toni, you picked one hell of a kid to fall for." Francis agreed.

"I know it."


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! I'm going to try my best to update this story regularly, although I'm also writing a two act script for my senior project, so that might take precedent until I finish. If you have any questions/suggestions, I'm always happy to reply to them! Thank you again for all of the comments, I love all of you, and here is Chapter 3, enjoy!

Matthew slid down into a seat next to Alfred, glancing at the huge pile of food in front of his brother with uneasiness. They had taken a quick tour of the dorms and ended it by going to the large cafeteria where they were given food cards and allowed to get whatever they wanted.

"Alfred, you know mom and dad still have to pay for our food?" The point of the food cards was so that the parents of the students could be billed at the end of each month for the food their kids consumed. That way there was no messy account balances or debt and and process went a whole lot smoother.

"Hey, superhuman powers mean superhuman amounts of food." Alfred grinned as he stuffed his face.

"Superhuman powers? That explains a lot." Arthur commented, rubbing his face where Alfred had hit him earlier. "What about you... um..."

"Matthew. I have invisibility."

"Fascinating. Just yourself or..."

"Just myself, but the guys who came to tell me said that by coming here I'd be able to make other stuff invisible too."

"What about you Artie?" Alfred paused his inhalation of food for the first time since sitting down. "You never told me what powers you have."

"What did you call me?"

"Artie. It's like a shorter version of-"  
>"Yes. Well. Don't."<p>

"Okaaay but what powers have you got?" Alfred whined.

"M-magic." Arthur looked down at his place.

"Obviously. What _kind _of magic?"

"Just magic. They said I'm a magistrate or something..." Arthur trailed off. Alfred stared at Arthur in wonder.

"Dude that's so cool! You're like Harry Potter!" Arthur's head shot up. It was cool? He had expected people to tell him it wasn't a real power, that he was just some kid who could say some things in Latin. But that it was _cool_?

"Really?"

"Yeah! Do you have a wand? Or do you just use your hands?" Alfred waved his hands around dramatically, causing kids from other tables to glance over at what he was doing. "Dude, if we do any team things in class, you _have_ to be on my team so that you I can watch you go all hocus pocus on the other team!"

A smile slowly spread across Arthur's face. Someone wanted him on their team? He was always picked last at sports at his old school.

"You should do that more often." Alfred suddenly said, looking serious for the first time.

"What?"

"Smile." Arthur felt a blush creeping onto his cheeks and quickly looked down at his food.

XxXxX

"That boy seemed nice, Lovi." Feliciano sat down next to his brother at the empty table they had found.

"Yeah, well, too bad I nearly set him on fire." Lovino replied bitterly. He had only had one friend in his entire life that wasn't his brother and it had only lasted about a week. It was way back in kindergarten but he could remember it well.

They had hit it off on the first day of school when they played with the toy cars. The second day they made a tower out of blocks. Lovino had gotten excited as he placed the top block on and accidentally lit it on fire. No one was hurt and the boy had said it looked really cool. Lovino thought he might be different and admire his powers rather than be afraid like Lovino's grandfather said the other kids would be. The third day they played on the playground together, and attempted to make a sandcastle in the sand box. The fourth day they played with Play-doh together. The fifth and final day of their friendship they had teamed up to do a three legged race.

He remembered it so well. The teacher lightly tying their legs together. The other two kids almost winning but falling down the last second as Lovino and his friend took the victory. Lovino remembered how ecstatic he felt, the adrenaline pumping through his veins because that was as exciting as life got in kindergarten. As they untied their legs his friend put his hand in the air for a high-five. As Lovino slapped his hand, he could feel what was about to happen, but was powerless to stop it as flame burst forth between their hands. The other kid had screamed and fell to the ground, cradling his hand and yelling at Lovino to stay back. Lovino had tried to apologize but the kid wouldn't have it.

Since that day Lovino had accepted being alone out of fear of hurting people. He hated how his grandfather and brother didn't seem to understand how dangerous he was.

He raised his head and glanced across the room, at the table where the five second years sat. Antonio must have had some sort of six sense, because Lovino was hardly looking at him a second when he looked up and, grinning, waved to him. Lovino quickly ducked his head and stared at his plate. So Antonio hadn't been scared off by his accidental display outside. That just made him all the more vulnerable if Lovino really lost control.

"I'm not hungry anymore." Lovino said suddenly, then walked out of the cafeteria and back to the safety of his room.

XxXxX

Alfred smiled as he watched Matthew bashfully turn invisible for the umpteenth time for a group that had gathered around him. They had finished lunch and were told they could either spend the rest of the day in their dorms or out on the lawn. Most of them had chosen the lawn where they were now sharing powers with one another or playing Frisbee or other sports. Alfred had decided to let his food digest and sat in the shade of a tree watching his younger brother.

"Too tired to lift some cars?"

Alfred looked up to see a smirking Arthur leaning against the tree.

"Nah, just thought I should give everyone else a chance to feel cool before I step up and blow them all away." Alfred replied with a grin. Arthur scoffed as he plopped down next to Alfred.

"Ah. I see."

"Why aren't you showing off your magic powers?"

"Because... I don't feel the need to get my self-esteem from others."

Alfred stuck out his tongue as Arthur rummaged around in his messenger bag and pulled out a book.

"Whatchya reading?" Alfred leaned over, trying to read over Arthur's shoulder.

"None of your business."

"Can you read it out loud?"

"What? Why?" Arthur looked at him in confusion. Alfred shrugged.

"I'm bored."

"No."

"Why not?"

"It's a magic book."

"Can you do some magic?"

Arthur let out an exasperated sigh.

"Would that get you to shut up?"

"Yep!"

"Fine. What should I do?"

"Uhh..." Alfred's eyes scanned the lawn, looking for inspiration. Suddenly he got an idea. "Can you teleport Mattie over here?"

"Umm..." Arthur flipped through his book quickly. He found a teleportation spell, but it was more complex than the stuff he was used to. "I-I can try..." He stood up, and, using one hand to support the book and the other outstretched toward Matthew, began reading the spell.

"Illud transferre

Quod non est

Ita ut sit

hie"

He squeezed his eyes shut as he felt the power flow through his outstretched arm. He could feel a sort of pulling that he hoped was supposed to happen, as it was a teleportation spell and he was technically pulling someone toward them. There was a zap and burst of light. Arthur heard Alfred suck in air. He slowly opened his eyes to see what he had done.

That was not Matthew. The person that stood in front of him was huge, taller than Alfred, with silvery blonde hair and a smile that didn't feel as warm as it should have. Something about the guy Arthur had accidentally summoned made his blood run cold.

"S-sorry, I wasn't trying to teleport you..."

"It's alright. Just don't do it again, yeah?" The guy replied, although for some reason the statement sounded more like a threat than forgiveness. Arthur swallowed.

"Sure..."

The guy walked off and Alfred immediately grabbed onto Arthur.

"Dude that was so freakin cool! I mean apart from the tall scary guy, but you did magic! I don't think I really believed you when you told me but now...!"

Alfred's words were lost on Arthur as he stared after the the strange boy he had summoned. There was something off about him. Maybe it was just his imagination...

XxXxX

"Lovi!" Antonio skipped down the steps of the main building. He had just come from talking to Romulus.

_"So did you meet my grandson?" Romulus had asked with a grin. _

_"Yes! Lovino is great!"_

_"Lovino?" _

_"Yep! We are going to be good friends, I can tell!"_

_"Friends? He... Let you be his friend?"_

_"Well... Not exactly. He nearly set me on fire on the flat. But he seemed to feel bad about it, so I think thats a good sign! Ahaha!" _

_"How weird..."_

_"What?"_

_"Nothing. Lovino is great, don't get me wrong, I love the boy to death, but... He doesn't take a liking to other people very easily... But this works too!"_

_"Uhm... What works, sir?"_

_"As the concerned grandfather that I am, I wanted to have someone to look after each of my boys. I thought you and Feli would hit it off, but I like this better. You get to keep an eye on Lovi for me!" _

_"Really? I get to be like Lovi's guardian?! This is wonderful!" _

_"Now I just need someone to watch Feli for me... Do you think Gilbert would like to?"_

_"No sir, I think Gilbert has his hands full with that first year who didn't get a room, it looks like he wasn't enrolled in any classes either, even though his name is on the official student list..." _

_"Right, right, I forgot... I would ask Francis but he seemed a bit... Too interested in meeting Feli... Wait! Doesn't Gilbert have a brother starting here this year?"_

_"Ludwig, yes, he's starting this year."_

_"Great! You'll watch out for Lovino and Ludwig can watch Feliciano! Perfect!"_

_"Um... When you say watch..."_

_"Well, your job is a bit trickier. I'm sure you noticed by the way he was on the flat, Lovi has some... Difficulties with his powers. Hopefully it will all be fixed in his classes but I'm afraid he might need some one on one help. He always refuses me. But maybe he'll be warmer to you..."_

Now Antonio was rushing toward Lovino who had propped himself up against the dorm building. He knew he was grinning like an idiot, but he couldn't help it. It was in part due to the fact that he now had an excuse to see Lovino more often, but more due to the sight of the Italian just sitting there. The way he looked with his eyes closed, relaxed, tapping his foot lightly to music that was playing through his headphones, and that stray curl that bounced a little with each tap of his foot just made Antonio so happy. He trotted over to Lovino and stood next to him, waiting for him to notice. It took every ounce of self control that Antonio had to not read what was going through the boy's head.

After a moment, Lovino's eyes opened. Glaring at Antonio, he popped out his earbuds.

"What do you want?"

"Your grandfather told me about how you have some trouble with controlling your powers and he asked me to help you out-"

"No!" Lovino was suddenly on his feet and taking a step back from Antonio. "I don't need any help, I'm fine!"

"It didn't seem like it earlier..." Antonio replied quietly.

"It's under control! I'm fine!" He was panicking, but waved his hands to try to get Antonio to back off. He should have seen it coming. In his blind panic and anger at his grandfather for assigning him a babysitter, flames abruptly engulfed his hands. He yelped, frantically trying to shake the flames away and attempted to back away from Antonio, but the latter was too fast, and quickly grabbed his wrists, taking him completely by surprise.

"What are you-"

"Lovino." Antonio cut him off in a calm but stern voice, "Take a breath."

He stared in shock at the Spaniard in front of him. No one in their right mind ever came near him when his powers spiralled out of control. Even his own grandfather would step back until the flames subsided. He let himself take a slow shaky breath as he stared into Antonio's bright green eyes. God, they were gorgeous. Suddenly, the other boys slightly goofy grin returned as he looked down at Lovino's hands.

"There." Lovino looked down in shock. The flames were... gone. He stared in wonder at his own hands as if he had never seen them before. Logic slowly returned to him and he looked shyly at Antonio.

"D-did I burn you?"

"Nope." He smiled his dumb grin as he turned away. "I hope you'll let me help you Lovi, I'll check in with you tomorrow!" He turned away from the now flustered Italian and quickly walked to his dorm room. It wasn't until the door clicked shut behind him that he looked down at his reddening wrists. It would be worth it, he thought. But maybe one of the first years had some sort of healing power.


	4. Chapter 4

"Ow ow ow!" Antonio cried.

"Stop being such a baby." Gilbert replied as he carefully wrapped Antonio's burned wrists in gauze. Francis looked up from his spot on Antonio's bed with concern.

"Are you sure you'll be okay helping this kid? It could get much worse..."

"Or it could get better." Antonio replied shortly, ending the discussion. "What does it say?" he asked, nodding at the computer that sat on Francis's lap. Antonio had called them to his room to help him shortly after the whole incident. Francis had looked up how to care for the burns long-term while Gilbert had helped Antonio clean and wrap his wrists.

"Rinse with salt water every hour or so and take pain medication." Francis replied.

"There." Gilbert grinned at his wrapping job. Antonio smiled at him gratefully.

"Now I just have to make sure Lovino doesn't see..."

"Why's that?" Francis asked, his head tilted to the side.

"I, ah... told him he didn't burn me."

"And you did that because...?" Gilbert flopped down onto Francis's bed.

"I just- I didn't want him to get upset..."

The room was silent after that, aside from the clicking of the computer keys as Francis looked up more long term treatments for burns, and a soft thumping caused by Gilbert who had found a rubber ball and was now tossing it up to hit the ceiling before catching it again. Antonio watched as the ball travel into the air, hit the ceiling, and fall back down into Gilbert's hands several times before he grew curious, and annoyed, at the insistent thumping of the ball.

"What are you doing that for?"

"My room's right above yours."

"So?"

"I wanna know if Matthew's in there yet."

"Does he seem the type who would complain?"

Gilbert paused, a slight frown on his face.

"Guess not... Doesn't hurt to try though."

He smirked and continued throwing the ball. A sudden crashing from the floor above caused all three of the boys to jump. Francis and Antonio gave Gilbert a worried look. He shrugged.

"Looks like he's up there." With an evil grin he started throwing the ball with more force, which made a louder thump each time it hit the ceiling. A few moments later, there was a loud rapping on the door. Bewildered, Gilbert sat up on the bed, exchanging a confused look with Antonio and Francis before answering.

"Ja?"

The door swung open, revealing a very pissed off looking Matthew holding a hockey stick. He pointed it accusingly at Gilbert.

"What the _hell _are you doing that for."

Gilbert sat there, completely at a loss for words. He looked like he was trying to decide if he should be scared or burst out laughing. After a moment, he managed a slightly strained "What?"

Matthew sighed in frustration.

"I'm _trying _to watch the hockey game from last night but I can't focus on it because of _something_ that keeps bumping the floor." He pointed at the ball. "Give it here."

Gilbert grinned.

"You caught me. Catch." He threw the ball roughly at Matthew, hoping to hit him in the face, and see how angry the boy who was super shy just a few hours ago could get. His plan failed as Matthew expertly blocked the ball with the hockey stick, flinging it back to hit Gilbert square in the nose.

"Ow!"

"Serves you right. Now shut the hell up." With that, he turned swiftly on his heel and left, slamming the door shut behind him.

Francis and Antonio turned, gawking at Gilbert.

"That was... unexpected."

After Francis had thoroughly checked out Gilbert's nose, and Antonio had changed into a long sleeved shirt to hide his burns, the trio headed back outside to enjoy the last bit of the day before they had to go eat dinner then stay inside the buildings the rest of the night. The school wasn't very strict about students staying in their own dorm rooms at night, but they did crack down on students leaving the building in the middle of the night. So after the student returned from the cafeteria after dinner, they were asked to stay in their building until the morning.

Gilbert pinched the bridge of his nose as he squinted against the sunlight.

"You're sure it's not bleeding?"

"It barely tapped you, calm down." Francis replied, rolling his eyes.

"Seriously who even watches hockey?" A sudden laughter from behind them, made Gilbert turn around suspiciously. "What the hell is so funny?"

"Sorry," A blonde boy jogged up to them and stuck out his hand. "I'm Alfred Jones, I think you're talking about my brother, Matthew?"

Gilbert took the offered hand cautiously.

"You're not going to beat me up for trashing hockey are you?"  
>"Me? Hell no, I don't get it either. But Mattie goes mental over it. His mom was Canadian. I think it's genetic or something."<p>

"He's Canadian, but you aren't?"

"We're half brothers. It kinda freaks people out because they always think we're twins. Our dad is a bit of a slut, but, hey, we're alive because of it right?" He laughed. "So is one of you guys Mattie's roommate? He told me he didn't get into first year dorms."

"Yeah, I am."

"Oh, cool, uh..."

"Gilbert. Gilbert Beilschmidt."

"Awesome! And you guys are...?"

"Antonio Carriedo."

"Francis Bonnefoy."

"Cool, cool. So, hey, is dinner soon? I'm starved."

XxXxX

Arthur sighed as he watched Alfred gallop off and talk to other people. He made it look so easy to go up to a random group and befriend everyone in it. Before he took off, they had been going to go back to the room. Arthur hadn't exactly been listening fully, but Alfred had wanted to show him something. Now he stood awkwardly by himself, unsure if he should go ahead back to the room or wait for Alfred to finish socializing. He looked around warily, taking in the campus for the first time. It looked similar to a college campus, but smaller with cooler buildings. The courtyard was large, with a section of open field, with a few trees along the edges, and a section with some tables and benches to sit at. It was a nice place and he couldn't say he was going to regret his stay.

His glance again fell on Alfred, who was now chatting happily with the three boys he had gone over to after hearing something about hockey. Alfred looked up and saw him, clearly recalling he had said he wanted to show Arthur something in their room. He held up his pointer finger, signalling that he would be there in a minute. Arthur sighed. This meant he should probably wait out here for Alfred to finish his conversation. He looked around again, this time trying to find someplace to sit. He spotted a good spot up against one of the dorm buildings where another boy happened to be sitting. The boy was listening to an iPod and glared at Arthur as he approached.

"Sorry, is it alright if I sit here?" Arthur asked, unsure of how he was supposed to handle the unexpected glaring. The boy took a few extra seconds to glare at Arthur before responding.

"Do what you want." He had a very definite accent, Italian, Arthur guessed. He wondered for a moment if he should take the glaring and tone of the boys voice as a hint, but decided to just sit. As he slid down against the wall, the boy scooted away from him.

"Are you germaphobic or something?"

The boy scoffed, and looked away.

"Or something."

At this point, Arthur decided conversational attempts were pointless, so he leaned his head back and shut his eyes, enjoying the feeling of the setting sun on his face.

"Hey who's that sitting with Lovi?" Antonio burst out. He had seen the guy approach him, say something to Lovi, then sit down next to him. When he had tried to go talk to Lovino, he had tried to run away. What made this guy more worthy to sit with Lovino?

"Who's Lovi?" Alfred asked, craning his neck, trying to see where Antonio was looking.

"He's the brown-haired, Italian boy against the wall over there." Francis pointed.

"Oh the guy next to him is Arthur! He's my roommate!" Alfred said with a grin, glad to be able to contribute information.

"Well why's he sitting over there with Lovino? Does he know him?"

"Woah man, I only met him today, and I haven't met Lovino yet. But I was about to show Arthur the gaming systems I brought with me, so I can go get him if you want-"  
>"Yes! I mean... yeah. Thanks." Antonio said, trying to hide his desperation. He had only me Lovino that day, and already he didn't want him to need any other friends other than him. It was a horrible thing really, Lovino deserved more friends. But Antonio was his guardian now, and he was dangerous, as much as he hated to admit it. So that meant that he had a responsibility to keep other people away so that Lovi didn't accidentally hurt them and worsen his condition. That was definitely the reason why he wanted Alfred to get Arthur away from him. Definitely.<p>

XxXxX

Arthur stared, wide eyed, as Alfred pulled out the electronics he had brought with him. After he had set everything out in a sort of semicircle on the ground, Alfred stepped back and grinned.

"So we've got my TV, well the mini one, my parents wouldn't let me bring the bigger screen, bluray and DVD player, Xbox 360, I would have brought our One, but dad wanted to keep it, uh, my Wii, Playstation, and an old Nintendo 64 because why not, right?" He turned his beaming face toward Arthur who stared back at him in astonishment. "I've got all my games and DVDs in another bag and the cables to set it all up with in another other bag. Wanna help put it all together?"

"Uhh... Sure..." Arthur looked over the equipment nervously. He had no clue how to set any of it up. His family only had one TV with a DVD player and a VHS tape player, and he had never had to set any of it up before. He did the best he could helping Alfred, asking frequently what each wire went to and where to plug it in. He found himself wondering where all of this stuff had come from, considering Alfred didn't have anywhere near this much stuff when they had met outside that morning. In addition, he somehow seemed to manage to acquire some sort of entertainment station where they were setting everything up. It had a spot for the TV screen, the gaming consoles, and space to put Alfred numerous games and DVDs. (Although they didn't all fit, so many of them ended up stacked on either side of the TV.)

As the finished connecting cables, Alfred went into his side of their shared closet and pulled out a basket which he filled up with his many controllers. He grinned victoriously as he set two clickers down in front of the TV.

"And... Done! Thanks for the help, man. That would've take forever without you. Wanna go get some dinner?"

Arthur looked down at his watch. It was already 6:30. A rumble from his stomach reminded him how hungry he was. With a small smile, he nodded at Alfred and followed him out the door.

XxXxX

Matthew sat by himself in the cafeteria, casting glances at the door every few seconds, waiting for Alfred to burst through the door and join him. It was weird for his brother to be so late to dinner, he had expected him to already be halfway through the meal when he got there.

"What's up shortie?" Matthew jumped as a dinner tray was slammed down next to him.

"I am at least as tall as you, if not taller." He said casting an annoyed look at his new roommate who plopped down next to him before looking back at the door.

"Nah my awesome adds at an extra three inches." Gilbert replied with a grin. "Who are you looking for?"

"My brother," Matthew sighed, "it's weird for him to be so late for dinner."

"Oh yeah I met him earlier, he said something about setting up his gaming system with his roommate."

This made Matthew relax. The only thing that could distract Alfred from food was video games. Just then, Alfred burst through the doors with Arthur right behind him. He waved at Matthew as he made a beeline for the food.

"He won't murder us if we sit here will he?" Matthew turned his attention to the two boys who had sent their trays down on the table opposite him and Gilbert. He blushed, realizing they must be the two boys who were in the room with Gilbert when he was trying to watch the hockey game.

"No unless you insult the Vancouver Canucks." He replied with an apologetic smile.

"LUDDY!" Matthew practically jumped out of his skin as Gilbert nearly flipped the table over waving at a blonde boy who had just come through the door. The boy stared determinedly at the ground as he made his way to the table, casting quick glances to either side of himself, probably hoping no one would associate him with the white-haired boy who was all but standing on the table at this point. Gilbert wore a shit-eating grin on his face as the boy gave him a glare that would be fit to terrify anyone else. "I almost thought you wouldn't make it. I'll help you find your dorm after dinner." The boy shook his head.

"Mr. Vargas already showed me. He also wants me to look after one of his grandsons." He stole a look at a piece of paper in his hand. "Uh... Fel- Feliciano? Do you know him?"

"Yeah, he's the fire kid's brother, right?"

"Lovino, yes." Antonio responded. "Don't worry Ludwig, Feliciano is really nice. Oh, there they are now! Lovi!" Antonio waved at Lovino who had just gotten his tray of food and was scanning the room for a spot to sit with his brother right beside him. When he saw Antonio waving, he tried to move to sit somewhere else, but Feliciano was already making his way happily toward the table. Lovino hesitated before begrudgingly following.

"Lovi, have you met everyone yet?"

"Stop calling me that, dipshit. And no."

"Ahaha, well this is Gilbert and Francis, and Matthew, and Gilbert's brother, Ludwig."

"Great. Well. I'm Lovino, and this is my brother, Feliciano." He grumbled as he slid down into a seat at the table.

"It's so nice to meet all of you!" Feliciano piped up.

"Woah, Mattie you make friends fast!" Alfred laughed as he and Arthur approached the now rather crowded table. Matthew blushed and stared down at his food. Aside from his introduction to the Italian brothers, no one had really acknowledged him since Gilbert sat down, which really didn't make it feel like much like he was making any friends at all. Introductions were restated for Alfred and Arthur, and the group ate dinner together with upbeat and excited conversations about powers, future classes, and field trip hints by the second years at the table. As Feliciano launched into a story about how great his "Grandpa Roma" was at teaching, a dark haired second year with glasses came up to the table.

"You three. We are drawing sticks for tomorrow." He said to Gilbert, Francis, and Antonio before walking out of the cafeteria. The trio excused themselves from the table and jogged out after him, dropping their trash and trays off at the trashcan by the exit.

"Why can't we do this inside?" Gilbert groaned as the brisk evening air hit his skin.

"Because it's more dramatic out here!" Elizaveta grinned, holding out her hand, which had five popsicle sticks in it. The four boys took a breath, then each drew a stick. There was silence for a moment.

"So... the little one means I won right?" Gilbert asked hopefully, holding up the smallest popsicle stick.


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: Thank_ _you all for the follows, likes, and reviews! I really appreciate them and all of you :) Without further adieu, Chapter 5!_

Gilbert sighed, warming his hands on the outside of the coffee cup he had just gotten from the cafeteria. He took a small sip, squinting at the rising sun before turning to face the mass of unsure first year students. He let his eyes slide shut for a moment, feeling like he could easily doze off standing up. Forcing himself to open them again he decided he should address the confused mass.

"Alright losers, shut up. I did not want to be the one to get up this damn early to help you, but I got the short straw. Literally." A yawn escaped his lips and he rubbed at his eyes. "Now I bet you are looking at your schedules and are thinking 'What the hell, I thought I came here for my super powers.' well surprise, just because you can fly or can run really fast or some shit, does not mean you can coast through life without being able to add." He paused, listening to the groans of the first years, smiling a little, remember when he had been in their place last year and nearly leaving the school after hearing this same speech given to him by a second year student, telling him he still had to take normal high school classes. "Luckily for you," He continued, once the groaning and complaints subsided, "You only have to take these normal classes twice a week. Unluckily for you, today is a normal day." More groans. "Before any of you cut me off to ask, yes your previous years of highschool will be considered. I may be a second year, but I am 18, so this is the last year that I have to take normal classes here. Understand?" He took the silence as a yes.

"If you're wondering why we had to get you up at this godforsaken hour," He paused taking another sip of coffee, "it's because we had to tell you this and warn you that today, like every first day of school here, there is someone from outside of the school visiting. To the outside world, this is a picky private school for smart kids. So act like it. And now is also the time where I get to show you the cool stuff so you know where to go tomorrow for your fun classes." He turned on his heel, lifting his coffee to his lips yet again. "Follow me!" He yelled over his shoulder. They walked away from the dorms, passing the main building, and onto the other side of the courtyard. He came to a stop in front of two twin brick buildings, each with ivy growing on them, and each looking very regular.

"These are were you will be taking your normal classes." He pointed to the one nearer to the main building. "Freshman and sophomore classes here." He pointed to the other one. "Junior and senior classes here. After you complete four years of normal classes, you 'graduate' high school, but are required to remain here until you've completed four years of special classes. You can continue to study here after those four years to master your powers if you want, and it's recommended, but not required." He walked down a path that led between the two building and opened onto a large field, outlined with white, almost like a soccer field, but bigger and without goals of any kind. He gestured to the field with his arms outspread and turned around to face the group again.

"This is the field. You will be playing a variety of sports out here, sometimes you'll be allowed use your powers, sometimes you won't." Turning again, he walked out across the field, toward a shabby looking gym shed. Opening the door, he revealed an almost shabbier looking inside, some baseball helmets sat in a heap on the floor, there was a bag with a variety of colored pinnies inside, a bag with soccer balls, baseball bats leaning against the wall, and other various sports equipment. Gilbert marveled at the confused looks on the students' faces, before walking to the far corner of the shed. He gave them a devilish grin before taking a step and disappearing.

He waited at the bottom of the metal slide somewhat impatiently, listening to the murmurs coming from above. It was difficult to stop himself from yelling at them to get their lazy asses down the slide, but he managed it.

"WHOOOOOOOO!"

Gilbert couldn't help but smile at Alfred as he appeared at the bottom of the slide looking enthralled by his trip.

"Thought you might be the first one to have the balls to do it."

After Alfred came down, the rest of the student gradually made their way down the metal slide into the underground room. Gilbert watched with amusement as the students looked around the small room, poking at the old fashioned looking buttons and switches that lined the walls, and staring expectantly at the blank screens built into the walls above the control panels. When he was sure the entire group had gotten down the slide, he resumed his tour.

"We just came down one of a many entrances to the underground section of the school. This room," he gestured to their surroundings, "is not important. I don't know what it was originally used for, I don't know what the buttons do or did, so don't ask. Now we are going into the main section of the school." He placed his hand that wasn't holding his coffee on the doorknob dramatically, looking at all of the faces of the first years as he swung the door opened. He grinned at their wide eyes and open jaws before walking out into the hall and gesturing for them to follow.

The hall was wide, the made entirely up of marble, the floor was checkered black and white. There were columns on either side of the walkway, but where everyone expected there to be thick walls and a ceiling to hold back the layers of rock and dirt, there was nothing. Or at least it looked like nothing. Past the columns was beautifully kept garden, with hedged archways and stone benches, and above their heads the students could see the sky scattered with white, fluffy clouds.

"H-how is this possible? I thought we were underground!" One of the students blurted out when Gilbert offered no explanation.

"Romulus, the school's president, has the power of illusion." Gilbert walked to the edge of the hallway and waited for the students to gather around him. "Looks like I could run out there and frolick in the garden, yeah?" A few students nodded. Gilbert slapped the wall, the noise of his hand hitting solid marble echoing down the empty hallway, although it appeared that there was nothing there to stop it. In disbelief, the students began poking at the wall, wondering how it was possible. Gilbert's eyes glazed over the crowd of curious first years, stopping on the one who seemed rather unimpressed, leaning against a column with his arms crossed, a firm scowl on his face. He smirked as he recognized him and approached.

"Romulus's tricks getting old?" He asked Lovino with a smirk.

"Live with him for seventeen years and tell me if some garden projected on a wall is impressive to you." Lovi replied, frown not leaving his lips.

"Feli seems impressed." He nodded toward the other Vargas twin, who was giggling with a group of people as one of them leaned against the wall. Lovino rolled his eyes.

"He always was with Grampa's crap. He made a butterfly appear once and Feli chased it around for three hours. He's such an idiot..." He trailed off, watching his brother before suddenly remembering Gilbert's presence. "Hey are you going to continue your damn tour or are we just going to stand in this stupid hallway forever, bastard?"

Gilbert rolled his eyes, but cursed under his breath when he checked his watch to find that it he only had an hour before the first years were supposed to be in their classrooms.

"Okay everyone hurry up, let's get going." He took the group quickly through the doors at the the end of the hall, into another high ceiling corridor, this one with visible walls and huge doors. He pointed quickly to each door giving a one sentence or even one word explanation for each before moving on. When they had passed the last door, Gilbert led the group into a large stairwell and led them up the stairs while explaining the rest of their day.

"Now when we get back to the surface, you are all supposed to go to your dorm rooms where you will have uniforms waiting for you, yes we have uniforms here get over it. You will also find an I.D. in your room. Obviously we don't leave the passages to the underground section of school unlocked and unguarded all day everyday, so you will have to swipe your I.D. card and complete a retina scan in order to gain access to the underground from now on." As they reached the top of the stairs, Gilbert swiveled around to face his tour group one last time. "Any questions?" When he was met with silence, he continued. "Good, now get to your dorm, change into your uniform, and be in your first class in..." He paused, looking at his watch, "a half hour."

He opened up the door to the outside and made sure all the students had left the stairwell before seeing to it that the door was closed and latched. After quickly downing the now slightly cold remains of his coffee and depositing the empty cup in a trashcan, he made him way back to his dorm building. As he approached his room, he heard slight mumbling from the other side of the door. The mumbling abruptly stopped when he inserted his key into the lock, and he was met with a distraught looking Matthew when he swung open the door.

"Shortie? What are you doing still in here? Your classes start in like ten minutes." He looked down at Matthew's plaid shirt and jeans. "Where the hell is your uniform?"

"I... Guess I don't have one? I don't have an I.D. card either..."

"Shit." Gilbert ran a hand through his hair. He had completely forgotten that Matthew had somehow managed to not be included on any of the school records, and that would include uniform and I.D. card orders. "I guess you'll have to borrow my clothes until we can get you a uniform... And I'll have to walk you to your classes..."

"A-are you sure?" Matthew stared at his feet, feeling too awkward to even look at his roommate. "Because I could just talk to Alfred and maybe-"

"No no I told Papa Rome that would take care of you until he got all of your records sorted out."

Matthew felt his face flush from the way Gilbert had worded the statement. The he would _take care_ of him like he was a damsel in distress. He was pulled from his thoughts, however, as a pair of plaid pants hit him in the face, followed by a button up shirt and a blue blazer. He stuttered a thanks and quickly ran to the bathroom to change.

"What's your first class?" Gilbert shouted through the door.

"Uhhh..."

"Shit, seriously? Not even a schedule? Are you sure you were even admitted?"

"I can show you my acceptance letter if you want..." Matthew replied, coming out of the bathroom and tugging nervously at his shirt, which seemed to be half a size too small. Gilbert rolled his eyes.

"No, I believe you. Alright we're gonna make up a schedule for you today. The first year classes happening now are... " he squeezed his eyes shut in concentration, trying to recall what he had told the first years earlier that morning. "English... Math... And... Uhh... French? Oh yeah, french. That's where I'm going. So you might as well just come along." Satisfied with this decision, Gilbert turned on his heel and marched out of the room, leaving Matthew having to jog to catch up.

"Why are you in first year French?" Matthew asked, trying to keep in stride with Gilbert's brisk walk.

"Why do you think? I failed it."

"You failed French?"

"Don't sound so shocked, French is hard. Plus I'm already fluent in two languages. Two is awesome, three is overkill. My awesome brain won't allow me to become un awesome, so it won't allow me to learn French."

Matthew stared at his guide's sudden passionate speech. Today was definitely going to be interesting.


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N- So sorry about page breaks! I had them on my original document that I copy and pasted from, but I didn't consider that they wouldn't transfer right! You'll notice that I added them to all the previous chapters and will have them from here on out, thank you for pointing it out to me, I never would have noticed! _

Antonio tugged nervously at his sleeves. It was lunchtime, and he knew Lovino would be arriving in the cafeteria at any moment. He had covered up the bandages of his burns on his hand with fingerless gloves he had borrowed from Gilbert, but he was scared that one of his blazer sleeves would ride up and reveal the bandages on his wrists. As he carried his tray over to the table where Francis and Gilbert were already sitting with Matthew, he saw Lovi entering the cafeteria behind Feli and Ludwig. He wanted to wave at him, but the fear of revealing his wounds stopped him, so he just grinned, pretending that he couldn't let go of his other boy quickly averted his eyes, trying to act as though he hadn't seen.

"You're seriously gonna try to keep that burn a secret?" Gilbert asked as Antonio set his tray down at the table.

"Shh not so loud!" Antonio hissed, throwing a frantic glance over his shoulder to make sure Lovino wasn't behind him, listening. "And yes, I'm going to try."

"It'll never work, _mon ami, _he'll find out eventually." Francis cautioned, "You might as well come clean now."

"It'll work. As long as you guys help me?" Antonio gave them a pleading look, earning eye rolls and signs of resignation.

"Fine. But _we _better not get in trouble when he finds out."

"Thank you! And don't worry Lovi won't find out."

"I won't find out what?" Antonio jumped and Francis and Gilbert froze as Lovino looked between them expectantly. "Well?" He prompted after a few moments of silence.

"Ahhh, it's, we, uh, we weeere planning... a surprise party! For your birthday! It won't be much of a surprised anymore I guess..." Antonio laughed awkwardly. Lovino stared at him a moment before slowly replying.

"You met me yesterday. Do you even know my birthday?" Antonio almost smirked. This was one thing he could do. Not breaking eye contact with Lovino, he allowed himself to delve into his mind. Since the topic of his birthday had already been brought up, the date wasn't at all hard to find.

"March seventeenth." He said proudly. Then he frowned. "That's kind of far away isn't it?"

"What are you fucking stalking me?"

"What? No, I..." Antonio looked desperately to Francis and Gilbert for help, but his two friends recognized the situation was helpless and quickly averted their eyes. He looked back at Lovino and gave a halfhearted smile and shrugged in defeat.

Lovino rolled his eyes and slid down into the seat beside Antonio.

"Whatever. It better be a damn good party if you're planning it so early."

XxXxX

Alfred woke up early the next morning, as excited as a child on Christmas. He couldn't wait to start his superhero classes, as he liked to call them. After sitting through math and English and French and all of those boring regular classes the previous day, he was dying to show off and practice his powers. He bounded over to Arthur's bed and began to shake the other boy.

"Arthur wake up! You're gonna to be late for class!"

Arthur moaned from under the covers before lifting his head up and squinting at the clock beside his bed.

"We've still got two hours before classes start." He grumbled, letting his head fall heavily back against the pillow and pulling the warm covers back around himself.

Alfred sighed. He kind of figured Arthur wasn't going to be much of a morning person. He thought about pestering him until he got up, but decided against it, since he actually really wanted Arthur to like him. Instead, he gathered his uniform and got into the shower as quietly as he could then, once he was washed and clothed, slipped silently out of the room to fetch breakfast for the both of them.

He returned to the room about an hour and a half later, having had breakfast with Matthew, who had gotten up early after not being able to sleep. Unlike his brother, who was purely excited for their classes, Matthew was beyond nervous. They had sat in the cafeteria together and talked, until Alfred looked at the clock and saw they only had about twenty minutes until classes started. He had quickly gathered a few different breakfast foods; a muffin, a scone, and one of those mini cereal boxes, to take for Arthur, since he wasn't really sure what the boy liked.

When he arrived in their room, he found Arthur was no longer in his bed, but the shower was running. He checked the clock, fifteen minutes until classes. Now Arthur seemed to be pushing it. Deciding he didn't want to be late for his first superhero gym class, Alfred grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled a quick note to Arthur on it, then stuck the note onto the bag containing the food and rushed out the door.

When he arrived at the sports field, he scanned the group of students for Matthew and, spotting him talking to Gilbert, trotted over.

"Seriously, I'll be fine." Matthew was saying, looking more flustered than usual.

"Are you sure? Because I could totally grace you with my presence to help you get to your next class."

"Yeah I'm sure. You gave me the same schedule as Alfred for a reason, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I guess. But if you get lost," Gilbert handed Matthew a slip of paper. "Just text me." Gilbert then turned and jogged off to meet Antonio and Francis, who were waiting patiently at the edge of the field. Alfred approached his brother, waggling his eyebrows.

"Mattie, Mattie, Mattie, third day and you already got a guy's number? I'm impressed." Alfred grinned at Matthew's reddening face.

"Shut up." He mumbled in reply, shoving the number into his pocket.

"Attention class!"

The conversations quickly died down as everyone turned to face their teacher, who happened to be Romulus. Alfred glanced over to the edge of the field, and smiled in relief as he saw Arthur hurrying toward the class, the bag with his breakfast in it clutched tightly in his hand. Satisfied that his friend wasn't going to miss half of class, Alfred turned his attention back to Romulus.

"Now, I'm sure you're all very excited to start using your powers. I also know that some of the upperclassmen may have told you about some of the sports and games we play in this class in particular using powers. Unfortunately, we will not be starting with those today. Today, each of you will come stand up here and demonstrate your power or powers. Feli, would you like to start us off?" Romulus smiled at his grandson who happily stood up in front of the class.

"Hello everybody! My name is Feliciano, and I have water powers!" He demonstrated his power by summoning from his hands two streams of water that resembled snakes and made them swirl around him before making them burst above his head so that water poured down around him, but he remained dry. The class was amazed at how advanced the boy seemed to be with his powers and gave him a huge round of applause. Romulus nodded in approval.

"Alright, Feli, why don't you pick someone to go next?"

"Fratello! You go!" Feli beamed at his brother.

As Lovino stood and began making his way to the front of the group, he quickly threw on his overconfident grin. He was a bit nervous about this, but he had known that it was coming and had practice what he was going to do several times. As he turned to face the class, he made sure he was wearing his cockiest smile. The last thing he needed was his fellow students knowing about his insecurities.

"I'm Lovino, I have fire powers." He took a breathe. This was it. He closed his eyes and felt the power surge through him. He knew from the warmth on his face that he was now surrounded by fire, which he was sure his classmates were amazed that he had summoned. After a few seconds of being enclosed in a circle of flame, he let it die down, just like he had practiced. He heard the applause of the class, and tried to keep his easy looking smile on his face, but despite his practice, that stunt had left him feeling drained. He guessed since he hardly ever purposefully used his powers for such big things, it would make sense that he would feel a little tired after using them.

"Uh, you go." He said pointing randomly into the group before slumping down onto the ground beside his grandfather.

"That was great, Lovi." He heard him say.

"Yeah, well," Lovino mumbled, "it was tiring."

He heard his grandfather laugh softly.

"You'll get used to it. Antonio is going to be working with you after classes everyday starting today."

Lovino groaned, but knew better than try to argue with his grandfather. So he instead turned his attention to Alfred, who was in the middle of introducing himself to the class.

"... And I have superhuman strength and speed! I don't have anything to lift, so I'll just show you my speed!" He grinned at the group before taking off. It was like something out of a cartoon. Alfred seemed to disappear into a blur and the only thing that was clearly visible was the dirt kicked up by his feet. In just a few seconds he had gone around the entire field and stopped, grinning ear to ear in front of the class, which promptly applauded.

"Uh, Arthur! You go next!"

Arthur sighed. He knew as soon as Lovino had pointed to Alfred that either he or Matthew would be going next. He got up in front of everyone and flipped quickly through his spell book with shaky hands. He hoped no one would mock him for needing the aid of a book. When he found the page he was looking for, he gently placed the book on the ground and addressed the class.

"Hello. I'm Arthur. I am a warlock, meaning that I cast spells with the help of my book." He held up his hands in front of him and began moving them as if forming an invisible snowball. He muttered the incantation, glancing down at the book every couple seconds to make sure he was saying the correct words. Steadily, a ball of light materialized in his hands and, as he reached the end of the incantation, he threw it into the air, where it appeared to shatter, and sprinkled down a beautiful glittery dust. The class sat silent in aw of the beauty for a moment before bursting into applause. Arthur pointed at Matthew to go before returning to his spot beside Alfred.

"Dude, that was so frickin cool! Was it just a ball of light or did that glittery stuff curse us or something?"

"No, it was just light. If anything, it would be good luck." He hadn't meant that seriously, it was really just light, about as close to science as his magic got, but the look of excitement and wonder on Alfred's face was too precious for him to ruin. So he let the matter drop and turned his attention to the power presentations.

After Matthew a tall boy had announced himself a shapeshifter, but that he was only really good at turning into a merman, which he demonstrated. There had been another shapeshifter, but apparently a different kind who could only shift his gender, though Romulus promised he would soon be able to shift others as well as himself. One boy had snow and ice powers, a pretty Asian girl could levitate and manipulate objects, the list went on and on. Finally a bell rang signaling the end of class and all of the students hustled away from the field trying to navigate to their next class.

XxXxX

Lovino sat alone in the middle of the quad. Classes had ended fifteen minutes ago and still there was no sign of Antonio, who was supposed to be helping him train his powers. Just as he had decided he had been waiting long enough and could leave without getting in trouble with his grandfather, he saw the Antonio making his way over with two shopping bags. Lovino stared at them skeptically as Antonio place them on the ground and grinned at his new pupil.

"What-"

"Well!" Antonio said excitedly, "Romulus said you needed to work on your control, so I thought we would start out with this!" He began opening the bags and placing their contents onto the ground as he continued to explain. "After classes ended I went and bought some candles so I thought we could start out with having you try to light them all without setting anything else on fire!" He finished setting the candles on the ground and spun around to face Lovino, who was unimpressed, to say the least.

"You're fucking kidding me." Lovino scowled before turned abruptly and stomping away.

"W-wait! Lovi!"

"They're fucking lit, asshole!" Lovino shouted over his shoulder. Confused, Antonio whirled around. Sure enough, all six candles were lit. He gaped at them a moment, before taking off after Lovino.

"Lovi wait! How did you-"

"I've had this problem my whole life, bastard, you don't think I haven't tried the stupid candle trick before?! Do you want every other one lit?!" He shouted, flicking his hand at the candles. Promptly every other candle went out. "The other three?!" Another flick of the hand and the fire seemed to hop to the other three candles. "Get me a hundred and I'll make them spell a fucking message!"

Antonio stared at the candles, which were at least thirty feet away, then back at Lovino, completely lost.

"I don't understand." He admitted with a sheepish smile.

"I can control it when I _think _about it. It's when I don't that's the problem. Got it?" Lovino huffed impatiently.

"I think so..." Antonio replied thoughtfully. This information was completely changing his plan for helping Lovino, and making it more difficult. He had figured the boys lack of control came from a lack of practice or skill, but clearly, that wasn't the case. He needed to know more before he could figure out how to help. That thought gave him a perfect idea.

"Well, since my original plan for training isn't going to work out," He said, a smile spreading across his face, "Why don't we go get dinner?"

"W-what?! I- No!"

Antonio smiled at how flustered his proposition had made the boy. Maybe he had a chance after all. But now wasn't the time to worry about that.

"Why not? I need to know more about you and your powers if I'm going to be of any help, and I thought it would be more enjoyable for you if you were getting a free meal out of it..."

Lovino glared at him, biting his lower lip and pondering Antonio's words.

"You're paying?" He asked after a moment.

"Yep!"

"Fine." He spun on his heel and began striding away from Antonio. "But I'm picking the restaurant!"

Antonio laughed and agreed as he hurried after him.


End file.
